My Name is Paul H Cosentino. I started this Blog in 2011 because of what I believe to be wrongdoings in town government. This Blog is to keep the citizens of Templeton informed. It is also for the citizens of Templeton to post their comments and concerns.

WikiLeaks’ latest Vault 7 release contains a batch of
documents, named ‘Marble’, which detail CIA hacking tactics and how they
can misdirect forensic investigators from attributing viruses, trojans
and hacking attacks to their agency by inserted code fragments in
foreign languages. The tool was in use as recently as 2016. Per the WikiLeaks release:

"The source code shows that Marble has test examples not just in English but also in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. This would permit a forensic attribution double game, for example by pretending that the spoken language of the malware creator was not American English, but Chinese, but
then showing attempts to conceal the use of Chinese, drawing forensic
investigators even more strongly to the wrong conclusion, --- but there are other possibilities, such as hiding fake error messages."

WikiLeaks said Marble hides fragments of texts that would allow for the author of the malware to be identified.
WikiLeaks stated the technique is the digital equivalent of a
specialized CIA tool which disguises English language text on US
produced weapons systems before they are provided to insurgents.

It’s “designed to allow for flexible and easy-to-use
obfuscation" as "string obfuscation algorithms” often link malware to a
specific developer, according to the whistleblowing site.

“This would permit a forensic attribution double game,
for example by pretending that the spoken language of the malware
creator was not American English, but Chinese, but then showing attempts
to conceal the use of Chinese, drawing forensic investigators even more
strongly to the wrong conclusion,” WikiLeaks explains, “But there are
other possibilities, such as hiding fake error messages.”

The code also contains a ‘deobfuscator’ which allows the
CIA text obfuscation to be reversed. “Combined with the revealed
obfuscation techniques, a pattern or signature emerges which can assist
forensic investigators attribute previous hacking attacks and viruses to
the CIA.”

Previous Vault7 releases have referred to the CIA’s ability to mask its hacking fingerprints.

WikiLeaks claims the latest release will allow for thousands of viruses and hacking attacks to be attributed to the CIA.

And the rabbit hole just got even deeper.
* * *
Full release from WikiLeaks:

Marble does this by hiding ("obfuscating") text fragments used in CIA malware
from visual inspection. This is the digital equivallent of a specalized
CIA tool to place covers over the english language text on U.S.
produced weapons systems before giving them to insurgents secretly
backed by the CIA.

Marble forms part of the CIA's anti-forensics approach and the CIA's Core Library of malware code. It is "[D]esigned to allow for flexible and easy-to-use obfuscation" as "string
obfuscation algorithms (especially those that are unique) are often
used to link malware to a specific developer or development shop."

The Marble source code also includes a deobfuscator to
reverse CIA text obfuscation. Combined with the revealed obfuscation
techniques, a pattern or signature emerges which can assist forensic
investigators attribute previous hacking attacks and viruses to the CIA.
Marble was in use at the CIA during 2016. It reached 1.0 in 2015.

The source code shows that Marble has test examples not just
in English but also in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. This
would permit a forensic attribution double game, for example by
pretending that the spoken language of the malware creator was not
American English, but Chinese, but then showing attempts to conceal the
use of Chinese, drawing forensic investigators even more strongly to the
wrong conclusion, --- but there are other possibilities, such as hiding
fake error messages.

The Marble Framework is used for obfuscation only and does not contain any vulnerabilties or exploits by itself.